Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a well established machine-readable technology used in many applications including physical access control and logical access control.
A specific initial type of RFID technology, 125 kHz proximity technology, displaced other popular predecessor technologies such as Wiegand and magnetic stripe due to its non-contact convenience and ability to work in harsh environmental locations as well as its higher immunity to vandalism. There now exits a need to move to a “next generation” RFID technology, which is currently ISO standardized and based on 13.56 MHz carrier frequencies. This second generation technology offers all of the advantages of its predecessor and adds higher security, more data memory, and multi-application capabilities.
Although this second generation RFID technology is now displacing the predecessor legacy 125 kHz proximity technology, there is still an extremely large installed base of both readers and credentials which utilize the 125 kHz proximity technology. It is estimated that tens of millions of legacy readers and hundreds of millions of legacy credentials are still in use, even though a superior second generation RFID technology is available. There are many approaches to tackling this enormous upgrade task and one solution includes replacing existing credentials with a multi-technology credentials that are compatible with both the legacy RFID technology and the second generation RFID technology in a single credential. Since this multi-technology credential can be read by both legacy 125 kHz RFID readers and newer 13.56 MHz RFID readers, once all of the credentials are replaced with multi-technology credentials, reader replacements can begin since the newly replaced credentials will work on both the legacy readers and the new readers. Unfortunately, this solution is a logistical nightmare, if implemented within a relatively short window of time, primarily because re-badging employees is very time consuming and costly.
Another solution, similar to the multi-technology card replacement method, focuses on the same approach in which existing legacy readers are replaced with multi-technology readers that are capable of reading both the legacy 125 kHz RFID credentials and the newer 13.56 MHz RFID credentials. However, since reader installation represents a significant portion of the upgrade costs due to the expense of both skilled and trusted labor, it would be highly desirable to be able to simply and conveniently upgrade readers without actually replacing them.
The ideal solution would be to convert existing readers in situ while allowing for the natural transition of legacy credentials to new credentials in the normal course of business as employees are hired and fired or request replacement credentials that are lost or otherwise misplaced. Such a solution could be executed on a time scale that suits the needs of a site instead of a process that hastens the transition which is both disruptive and costly. Moreover, the ideal solution would not require existing readers to be removed from the wall to be replaced with either a new single technology replacement reader (after the original cards were all replaced with the new cards) or be replaced with a more costly multi-technology reader that supports both the legacy credential and the new credential.